


Love/Hate Relationship

by TeekiJane



Series: 1000 Words [3]
Category: Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 09:46:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12363021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeekiJane/pseuds/TeekiJane
Summary: Jamie's convinced little sisters are a conspiracy to ruin big brothers' lives.





	Love/Hate Relationship

**Author's Note:**

> BSC 100 #31: Young

Jamie wonders why little sisters were invented.

By his standards, Lucy is pretty useless. She can’t do _anything._ He’s spent all morning setting up the perfect town. There are streets and houses and cars, all built from Legos and cardboard tubes and everything he’s been able to hoard recently. Lucy sits a short distance away, a lump. Drooling. Waving a fist around. 

Even her toys are pointless and repetitive. She’s got this one that plays the same song over and over again. Jamie doesn’t know the song, but he hates it. 

And now Lucy’s on her hands and knees, and Jamie knows what that means. He gives her his meanest look, but she barrels right by him. She doesn’t walk yet, but she’s a fast crawler and before he can even wail about it, she’s in the middle of his city like a slobbering, babbling Godzilla. 

“She doesn’t mean to ruin your town. She just wants to play with you,” Mommy tells him, but Jamie knows the truth. Lucy was sent by the heavens to destroy everything. 

She’s got one of his Hot Wheels and of course it’s in her mouth. Mommy takes it away, frowning, and asks, why doesn’t he move the town to his bedroom? Too small. There’s more room to spread out down here. She sighs, but tells Jamie that he’ll have to take it upstairs if Lucy puts anything else in her mouth that can choke her. 

Jamie wonders why he’s being punished for Lucy not being able to keep her mouth to herself. 

Two minutes later, another car is in Lucy’s mouth. Jamie scowls, and before he can get punished for something that’s not his fault, he wallops the top of Lucy’s head, leaving her howling. Instantly satisfying. If he’s going to jail, he’s going to be guilty. 

Mommy is beyond furious. “Don’t come back down until you’re ready to apologize,” she calls as she cuddles, kissing the top of her head. Sure. Lucy ruins everything and Mommy takes her side. 

Jamie spends the rest of the afternoon in his bedroom. He’s not sorry. 

*** 

The next day, the weather turns nice for the first time since Christmas. Jamie got a new swing set for Christmas, a bigger one with a tall slide and a tree house at the top. He’s been asking to play on it every day since the snow melted, and Mommy agreed today. “Put your coat on,” she tells him. “I called Mrs. Perkins, and she’s going to bring Myriah and Gabbie over in a few minutes.” 

Jamie’s too excited to speak. He and Myriah have been having a contest over the past couple months over whose toys were better. She hasn’t seen his little fort yet and he knows he’ll win with that one. Much better than her karaoke machine. 

The joy over one upping his best friend fades as he sees Mommy putting socks on the drool monster. “Does she have to come outside too?” he asks. 

Mommy just adds shoes over the socks. “Why don’t you watch for them out the front door?” she asks, but Jamie knows a distraction when he hears one. He whines, stomping through the house, still muttering about Lucy. 

It gets worse when they go outside. Mrs. Perkins is running late, so Mommy makes him watch his sister while she busies herself in the garage. Jamie makes every scary face he knows, trying to make the baby cry, but she just pokes him in the eye and laughs. Not only is she useless, but she’s got razer-sharp fingernails. 

Myriah and Gabbie arrive right in time to stop a tantrum as Jamie tries to convince Mommy not to put the baby swing on _his_ new swing set. “It’s mine, not Lucy’s,” he whines, but Mommy’s attention is on the guests. 

Mrs. Perkins has brought Laura with her, meaning that now there are two babies. Laura is younger than Lucy, but bigger, with chubby thighs and arms. Mommy puts the swing down in order to spread out a blanket for the small, useless ones. Jamie sighs with relief before he runs off to join Myriah in his tree house. 

Myriah and Gabbie always have good ideas, and for nearly half an hour, Jamie forgets Lucy even exists. He’s too busy being Captain Hook to Myriah’s Peter Pan, while Gabbie flits along beside her sister. “Tinkerbell’s not supposed to talk,” she whispers. 

Jamie only comes back to real life when Mrs. Perkins calls Peter Pan by her real name. “Honey, Mrs. Newton and I are going inside for a minute. Watch the babies, will you?” 

Myriah peers out the tree house’s window for a moment. “Okay, I watched them!” she says cheerfully. “Look out Captain Hook—here comes Peter!” 

It’s only a minute later that he hears Lucy start crying. Peter Pan’s still flying all over the yard with Tinkerbell, but Captain Hook stops what he’s doing, ready to holler at the baby for ruining everything _again_ , when he realizes something’s wrong. 

Lucy’s lying on her back, her legs flailing in the air. Laura is right beside Lucy, and as Jamie watches, she crawls right over and sits on his little sister. Lucy’s being terrorized by a gurgling, crawling _bully_! 

He wastes no time. In seconds he’s down the slide and across the yard, to where Laura is still sitting on Lucy’s chest. He picks Laura up and plops her on her diaper a few feet away, startling her into a wail. 

Jamie ignores those cries as he sits his sister back up. “It’s okay, Lucy. Jamie’s here to protect you.” 

Mommy praises him when she comes back out a minute later, but Jamie just shrugs. It’s not like anything has changed. There’s only one person allowed to pick on his little sister, and anyone else will have to answer to him.


End file.
